The Constitutional Council received an application for a priority preliminary ruling on the issue of constitutionality raised by the Conseil d'État on behalf of the association France Nature Environnement.

This application raised the conformity of the drafting of general requirements relating to classified installations subject to a requirement for authorization with the principle of participation.

According to the applicant, by not making provision for the participation of the general public in the drafting of general requirements relating to classified installations subject to a requirement for authorization, the French legislator has violated the principle of participation guaranteed by Article 7 of the Environmental Charter.

The Constitutional Council ruled that the contested legislative provisions were unconstitutional. It considered that they didn’t assure the implementation of the principle that the general public should participate in the elaboration of the public decisions at issue and that accordingly, in adopting the contested legislative provisions without making provision for participation by the general public, Parliament acted outwith its jurisdiction.